Toshiba unveils the world’s first 12.5-inch 4K convertible laptop

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At IFA in Berlin, Toshiba has unveiled the Satellite Radius 12, the first 12.5-inch convertible laptop with a 4K screen. You may ask, and reasonably so, why anyone would need 4K on a screen so small — and the answer is that you probably don’t, just the way you don’t need a 4K display on a phone. But it can be done, and so it shall be done.

The Satellite Radius 12 comes in either a carbon gray or satin gold metal finish with an LED backlit keyboard. It weighs 2.8 pounds, and the hinge rotates all 360 degrees to switch between five separate viewing modes — similar to a Lenovo Yoga. Before the announcement, we had a chance to take a quick look at a Satellite Radius 12 in a pre-briefing with Intel, and can confirm it feels like a solid machine with a beautiful finish, and the hinge feels smooth and sturdy.

The Satellite Radius 12 runs Windows 10, features sixth-generation Intel Core processors (Skylake) up to a Core i7, and has an optional 3,840-by-2,160-pixel IPS touch screen display (standard is 1080p). RAM maxes out at just 8GB, though.

Interestingly, Microsoft’s Windows Hello, which provides facial recognition, will also debut on the Satellite Radius 12. You can use Hello to log into the laptop using the camera or a fingerprint without needing a password. We first covered Hello back in March; it’s basically a biometric identification system, and it can also support iris scanning (though it’s unclear if this particular laptop will support that at launch).

For ports, there’s USB-C in addition to two regular USB ports, which is something we wish other manufacturers would do at least for the next several years while we transition over — and no, we haven’t gotten over the 12-inch Apple MacBook’s single USB-C-port-for-everything design. You need multiple ports in order to charge the laptop while plugging in a drive or an external display; thankfully, that option is present here.

Toshiba’s boasting about the Satellite Radius 12’s power-saving and power-management capabilities, thanks in large part to Skylake, but we imagine the 4K screen will do a lot to negate some of the advantage in day-to-day use.

Look for this machine to hit stores in the fourth quarter of this year; pricing has yet to be announced, and we’re hearing conflicting reports about which color we’re actually getting in the US. Stay tuned for more information.

I still can’t believe how long it’s taking for 4K movies to appear. Whatever happened to a launch lineup? We had them with DVDs, with Blu-rays…

Daniel Glass

With Blu-ray at least, you could see a tangible difference in quality between that and DVD. Most HDTV users are already sitting back beyond the “retina” distance anyways. If anything I think what’s happening is that content companies saw the tepid response to 3D discs and have decided to wait until there’s actually a market for it.

Yeah. I do think you can see it on a larger screen–4K really does look amazing–but you need a large, high-quality TV to see the difference.

And honestly, 1080p still looks great to me, given that I had a VHS collection and upgraded to LaserDisc (which was still analog video).

Techutante

I have an older LCD projector that would be pretty low quality for gaming now, but it’s super nice for watching old movies on. My GF is a fan of VHS too.

VirtualMark

Yeah that’s the only thing that has stopped me from buying one – I’d rather wait until 4k movies are out, then I can get a newer TV with better features.

daniel

Smart move.

BillBasham

I like 4K tv’s because they’ve dropped the bottom out of 1080p tv’s. It’s amazing how cheap a good tv is these days.

Garu Derota

a 55″ curved 4K tv from Samsung can be found for 999 euros today. a really reasonable price imho

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Phobos

No mention about the battery life.

Jimmy Hauser

Higher resolution is nice on a convertible for readability. If you try reading on an ipad 2 vs an ipad air you will see how much easier the latter is on the eyes. It is on mine anyway.

But I am torn between the desire for crisp small text, and performance. High res screens do create stuttering compared with low res ones, and sap the battery.

Daniel Glass

Yeah, but even then 1920×1080/1200 screens in that 9-10″ range are perfectly fine. I’d even go so far to say that 4k is pointless on a monitor below 30″ or a TV below 50″. Apple mainly went with the resolution they did from the iPad 2 to 3rd Gen/Air because it was a straight 2:1 scaling that made it easier on app devs.

Ivor O’Connor

4K is pointless even on a 60″ monitor.

daniel

But not in a 70″ TV also keep in mind that there are many movie enthusiast out there that use one room for entertainment.

Ivor O’Connor

True.

Baconmon

Stop saying “4K”! Call it 2160p or UHD..
4K is a different thing..
4K is 4096×2160..
UHD is 3840×2160..
This laptop is UHD..

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